I must admit that I have always been a little skeptical of web comics. The notion of skipping the “Big Two” and their outdated distribution and advertisement schemes sounds good, but I have always doubted that a web comic would come out with high production values. Boy, was I wrong.
The Guns of Shadow Valley, by David Wachter and James Andrew Clark, is a weird western with a superheroic steampunk twist. The creators describe the story like this: “Somewhere in the mysterious Shadow Valley lies a secret that could forever change the face of the frontier. To protect that secret, a posse of gunmen with special abilities must come together and defend against a tribe of ghostly warriors, an advancing army led by a deranged Colonel, and the perils of the valley itself…Set in the 1870s in the Oklahoma Territories, Guns is a tale of intrigue and adventure that puts a new spin on the Old West.”
Starting in July of 2009, The Guns of Shadow Valley has been putting out one new page per week for nearly two years, and is now up to four chapters. I started reading the comic last night, started up again this morning, and was almost late to work because I had to read JUST ONE MORE PAGE! It is with some dread that I realize I am almost caught up, and will have to wait one painful week after another anxiously between each new page.
As an extra treat, comics blogger Amber Unmasked is a fan of the comic, and has shot a Shadow Valley photo set for her web site (along with the accompanying video below). Having a sexy cowgirl / fangirl advertise your site never hurts. I wouldn’t watch the video at work, and you really want to watch where you check out her (sometimes NSFW) site.
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| When you want to advertise a web site, a naked cowgirl really helps |
Just to add some clarification, I modeled for Guns in a professional capacity when Dave had the T-shirts printed and for one of his pages of his character Pearl; yes, I'm indeed one of their biggest fans but there are two separate things going on there. I also made a trailer played at their booth last year for the Eisners but I don't have my own copy. Sometimes I am just a fangirl with photos, but not in this case. Thanks for the plug! I hope they do get that Eisner some day.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting! It is nice to hear from readers once in a while. Those pics look great, by the way.
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